In a wife-murder case, Minato is accused of killing his wife. To uncover the truth, Detective Kawashima questions Minato’s mother, Meiyou. During the interrogation, Meiyou recalls a winter trip to Nagano ten years earlier, when Minato travelled with his father Kohei, Aunt Keiko, and her daughter Sachi to a shrine in the snowy mountains.

In this sacred place, where people come to pray under the gaze of the gods, they also give in to their desires. It is here that Minato first encounters love—and where the seeds of distrust are quietly planted.